The seven ability scores – Strength, Constitution, Agility, Dexterity,
Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma – are numerical representations of a
creature’s physical and mental attributes, and they determine its aptitude in
certain fields and its ability to perform a given activity. They are measured
from 0 to 10, with the average score for a normal adult Sentient being 2. The
highest a Sentient’s score can go up to by natural means is 5, but certain
class features, enchanted items, special abilities, or other exceptional means
can bring a score up to 6. Each is described in detail below.
Strength is the measure of your character’s ability to push, pull, or exert any
raw physical force on the world around them. It is used to muscle your way through
certain situations and deal damage with most melee weapons. STR is also used to determine
a creature’s carrying capacity before
becoming encumbered. A creature that is encumbered (meaning they have surpassed their
carrying capacity) is slowed and cannot climb,
swim, or jump. If they have surpassed their carrying capacity by > 150% (e.g. your
carrying capacity is 100 and you’re carrying 150+ pounds) then they are
incapacitated. Your STR also partially
determines your Fortitude.
Constitution measures your body’s overall fortitude and toughness, as well as your
stamina and your ability to resist the effects of poison and disease. CON is used
when determining your Health and
Fortitude. Any time your CON increases/decreases,
you gain/lose an amount of Maximum Health equal to the change times your level;
for example, if your CON increases from 3 to 3.5 and you are level 5, your Maximum
Health immediately increases by .5 times 5, which is 2.5.
Agility measures a character's ability to move quickly and perform body-wide feats
of finesse, whereas DEX is more closely tied to hand-eye coordination and precise,
nimble movements using one's hands and feet. Your AGI or DEX score determines your
initiative, and AGI and DEX together measure one's Dodge
and Reflex scores.
Speed. AGI also modifies your speed: for every .5 above 0 that
a creature's AGI increases, they gain another .25 meters/second to
their speed. For example, a Medium creature (Base Move 2m/sec) with an AGI of
3.5 would have a speed of 3.75 meters/sec; conversely, a Medium creature with an AGI
of 1 would only have a speed of 2.5 meters/sec.
Landing Prone. When falling, you can make a straight AGI check to avoid landing prone
(this does not reduce the damage you take from falling). The DR for this check is equivalent to triple the number of meters you fell, e.g.
if you fall 10 meters, the DR to avoid landing prone is 30.
Dexterity measures your balance, reflexes, and hand-eye coordination. It
is used when precision is called for and helps in determining a
character’s Dodge and
Reflex scores. Additionally, either your DEX or your
AGI determines your place in the initiative order of combat.
Action Time. DEX also determines the amount of time it takes you to perform
actions: specifically, when a creature's DEX score reaches 1, 5, and 9, the time it takes them
to perform all actions (unless otherwise stated by the action description) is reduced by .5, 1,
and 1.5 seconds respectively, to a minimum of .5 seconds for non-trivial actions.
Intelligence determines your ability to learn & retain information, analyze
situations & determine the best possible outcome, and your ability to perform
calculations & reason things out logically. A creature with an INT of 0 or .5
cannot read or write.
Every character gains an additional number of SP equal to their INT score, which
they can place into any Action or Tool Skill of their
choice or they can use to learn a new Sentient
language; ergo, if a character with an INT of 3 so desires, they could know 3
extra languages, gain 3 proficiency in any Action or Tool
Skill(s) of their choice, or some combination of the above. Conversely, a
character must lose/forget 1 proficiency/language if their INT ever decreases by 1.
Wisdom measures your attunement to the world around you, and your ability to determine
how things should be or what you should do in a given situation. Your WIS also makes up
one half of your Willpower score, along with your Charisma.
Charisma determines your ability to command the attention of those
around you. It measures how well you can interact with others in a
social context, from commanding and inspiring them to intimidating and
deceiving them. A high CHA score does not necessarily mean that the
character is well-loved by all around them (though this is frequently
the case), just that they have a very demanding and noticeable presence.
Your CHA score also partially determines your Willpower
score, with the other part of it being determined by your WIS.
Determining Your Scores
Given here are two ways to determine your scores, though your group may decide to
modify one of these ways or come up with one of their own:
Roll 1d8/2 7 Times. The first method is to roll 1d8 and divide the roll by 2; record
the result, then do that 6 more times, once for each score. Once you have all 7, place each
digit into each Ability Score as you desire.
Point Buy. The second method allows you to "purchase" your Ability Scores using a pool
of 16 points via a 1:1 conversion rate (e.g. you can spend 2.5 points to get a score of 2.5).
You cannot buy a score higher than 4.
When deciding stats, it is heavily recommended that your group democratically decide
which method they wish to use. Ability Scores can be halfway between two whole
numbers (1.5, 2.5, etc.) but cannot be any other non-whole value.
Skill Bonuses
Each Ability Score also doubles as a bonus to each associated skill, which simply
means that when making a check on one of those skills, you add your Ability Score
to the result of that check.
Skill and Ability Checks
In I&A, when a character wishes to perform any sort of difficult
or complex action, they must make what is called a skill check. If the action
they wish to perform directly relates/corresponds to an Action Skill
they are proficient in, they must roll a number of d10s proportionate to their
proficiency in that skill. However, if they are attempting
something that does not fit the criteria for any of the Action Skills, then
they make what is called an ability check. To do this, simply roll a number of
d10s equal to the appropriate Ability Score (plus a d6 if the score is halfway between two
whole numbers) and add up the rolls, plus the score itself; if
the result is > the DR, you succeed. If the given Ability Score is 0 or 0.5, just
roll 1d6.
For both skill checks and ability checks, consider reducing the DR based on how
your players describe how they wish to perform the action; if they explicitly point
out that they are going out of their way to make what they are attempting easier or
if they roleplay the check well, the DR should be reduced accordingly.
The Spectrum of Success. Instead of having success or failure be a binary,
consider implementing multiple levels of success that range from Critical Failure to Critical Success.
Here is a brief explanation of the full spectrum of success:
Critical Success. The checking creature succeeds on the check by a factor of 1.5x the DR; they perform whatever they are attempting
to do in an exceptional and incredibly skilled manner. Their incredible luck may bestow some boon upon them or another, such as restoring an extra bit of Health
or making up for the failure of another creature attempting the same task.
Success. The checking creature succeeds on the check by meeting or surpassing the DR by a relatively small factor; they perform the attempted task
adequately but not amazingly.
Partial Success. The checking creature fails the check by a relatively small amount; they may make progress towards their goal without explicitly
succeeding, possibly granting them the opportunity to make another check to make progress towards their goal. Alternatively, they can barely meet their goal
in an unflattering or unspectacular manner, or after a long passage of time.
Failure. The checking creature outright fails the check and does not meet or make noteworthy progress towards their goal.
Critical Failure. The checking creature does not meet even half the DR of the check, failing to meet their goal in a possibly humiliating manner or
even making the thing they are trying to do harder.
Throughout the Rulebook, generally only Successes, Partial Successes, and Failures will be explained for a given check, with the results of Critical Success/Failure
being up to the GM's discretion.
Check Difficulty. Presented here are two tables that should give an idea
of the relative difficulty of various tasks. GMs can use either table at their
discretion: the left gives a list of static difficulties that can be referenced
quickly and easily, while the right outlines how to calculate dynamic DRs given a
task's difficulty.
Difficulty
DR
Partial Success
Example
Very Easy
5
3
Track a bleeding creature
Easy
10
7
Break a somewhat thick piece of wood
Moderate
16
12
Pick a normal lock
Difficult
22
17
Find a hidden object
Very Difficult
30
24
Climb a rope during a hurricane
Practically Impossible
40
34
Know an extremely obscure piece of information
Difficulty
DR
Partial Success
Very Easy
2.5 + 1d4
DR - 2
Easy
6.5 + 1d6
DR - 3
Moderate
11.5 + 1d8
DR - 4
Difficult
16.5 + 1d10
DR - 5
Very Difficult
23.5 + 1d12
DR - 6
Practically Impossible
29 + 2d10
DR - 6
Deciding When a Roll Is(n't) Needed
As Ability Scores (and skill proficiencies) become higher and higher, the need to roll for
certain activities - Very Easy and Easy ones in particular - becomes lesser and lesser. If a
character with a high enough Ability Score or skill proficiency is attempting a relatively easy
task, then there is no need to call for a roll, and it can just be assumed that the character is
able to perform the task. For example, if a
character with 5 STR tries to break a somewhat thick piece of wood (DR 10), then it can be safely assumed
that they are able to do this quite easily, and there is no need to ask the
player to roll on behalf of their character. This has the dual benefit of both keeping the game
moving, and rewarding the character for specializing in a given ability/skill to such a degree.
Contrarily, if there is no possible way for a character to succeed at a task given their
current Ability Score/proficiency, then there is no reason to make them roll, and you can simply
say that if the character tries, there is no way for them to succeed. As an example, if a
character with 1 proficiency in Lore wanted to see if they knew an extremely obscure piece of
information (DR 40), there is simply no way for them to succeed on that check, so it would be
pointless to ask for a roll. Whether or not the character would realize they aren't skilled
enough to attempt something would largely depend on their INT/WIS score.
